Silk

Andrea Maack is a young Icelandic artist who commissioned perfumes to use as part of her visual art installations - she wanted wearable art. Demand for these unique scents was so great that she launched Andrea Maack Parfums in 2010.

Silk matches its name to perfection. The opening is soft but very cool, like a breeze from an open window in early spring. “The idea of Silk is to enhance the feeling of wearing a perfume – its powdery, airy, earthy, leathery aura makes you imagine a silky smoothness caressing your neck.” (from the press materials). There’s an accord of leafy greens, grass and faintly sweet violets which becomes more assertive, and then after 15 minutes or so takes on a softer powdery vibe.

The heart of Silk is this soft grassy accord, mixed with hints of lime and clean linen, which control the sweetness from the florals, freesia and magnolia, further enhancing the cool chic sensation of wearing Silk. The dry down becomes warmer with the addition of vanilla and amber, but there’s just a light touch with these two notes, which keeps the Silk feeling earthy, with notes soft suede.

The intriguing thing about Silk is that none of the notes really stand out. It smells like none of them, it smells like all of them – but the end result is the sensation of smooth, cool, very chic art on my skin, which tells a unique story, and I think it’s exceptional.